Use of Adhesive Tape for Handling, Transporting and Storing Capillaries and Dispenser for Individual Capillaries on That Adhesive Tape.
The invention concerns handling, transport and storing of a plurality of capillaries as well as a dispenser of individual capillaries.
Capillaries, in particular microcapillaries are used for a plurality of chemical, biological, biochemical or medical experiments, such as chemical analyses, syntheses, sample preparations, biological tests, blood tests or the like. They consist of an inert material, preferably of glass, and are produced from endless capillary tubes by cutting to length. They are mostly cylindrical, in particular circular cylindrical and the capillary tube can be open at both ends or be closed at one end like a test tube. In the latter case, they can be used as micro-reaction containers and optionally also be coated at the inside with a reactive material, e.g. a catalyst and/or have a flared flange in the region of the fill hole to be closed by a flared cap. Capillary tubes which are open at both ends can also be coated with chromatographic or biologically active sorbents. Also known are capillaries with two closed ends which can be optionally opened via breaking points. The invention concerns such capillaries and micro-reaction containers.
Capillaries are difficult to handle, in particular due to their small size and fragility, both during manual and automated operation for packing, transporting and storing and also utilization by the user. The capillaries which are cut from the endless capillary tube have been conventionally packed in loose bundles. Transport and storage of such loose bundles can lead to breakage and corresponding injuries. The removal from the bundle and positioning of the capillaries is cumbersome and inconvenient, in particular for containers which are closed at one end and must be disposed with the filling hole facing upwards. Automated removal, sorting and positioning is also problematic.
Insertion of the capillaries into corrugated supports or into punched supports of cardboard has been proposed. This is also inconvenient and unsuitable in particular for very fine microcapillaries having a storage capacity of less than several μ1. One has also attempted to detachably interconnect capillaries by coating them with resins, lacquers or the like and by gluing. These efforts do not produce satisfactory results, since the coating sticks to the capillaries and is difficult to remove.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,566 discloses a chemical reaction or measuring device to which capillaries, serving as reaction vessels, can be sequentially fed by means of an endless carrier band. The capillaries are disposed in parallel and at equal separations on the carrier band by placing them in slots disposed on the upper run of the endless band, in parallel and extending transverse to the direction of travel of the carrier band. In one embodiment, the capillaries are permanently glued to a support band made from paper and plastic.
It is the underlying purpose of the invention to propose means for simplified handling of capillaries to protect them from breakage, in particular, during transport and storage thereof. The invention is also directed to a dispenser for individual capillaries from those means.
The first part of this task is achieved in accordance with the invention through use of at least one adhesive tape as means for handling, transporting and storing a plurality of capillaries, wherein the capillaries are introduced, in substantially parallel alignment and at separations less than their diameters, onto an endless adhesive tape extending substantially perpendicular to their longitudinal axes to be held thereby at a portion of their outer surfaces, the width of the adhesive tape being smaller than half the length of the capillaries.